Solely for the purposes of illustration, the disadvantages of prior art are presented hereinafter in the case where the radiocommunication electronic module is, for example, a module of the “WISMO” (registered trademark) family implementing the “Open AT” (registered trademark) concept of the WAVECOM company (applicant of this patent application). It is clear that these disadvantages can be transposed to any other type of radiocommunication module.
Conventionally, a radiocommunication module comprises a hardware architecture (“hardware”) and software architecture (“software”).
The software architecture comprises a radiocommunication software stack supporting the execution capacity of at least one client application (for example an “Open AT” application), i.e. third-party code in comparison with the code of the main radiocommunication application (firmware) which manages the radiocommunication software stack (GSM stack for example).
As we shall see hereinafter, it is conventional to turn off a radiocommunication software stack with AT commands (“GSM AT Commands Task”), for example of the “AT+COPF” type. These AT commands can be issued by a device that is exterior to the radiocommunication module (i.e. “Open AT” concept) or by the radiocommunication module itself (AT commands internal to the module).
Generally, the radiocommunication module receives a control signal on an “ON/OFF” activation input. The control signal varies between high and low logic states. For example, the module is activated when the control signal is at the high logic state. However, it is deactivated when the control signal is at the low logic state.
The radiocommunication module comprises a real time clock (or “RTC”) (also called means of alerting in what follows) making it possible to wake up the module at determined instants. This real time clock is supplied by a source of power that is separate from that of the module, for example, a dedicated battery. As such, when the module is off, the real time clock continues to operate. The “alarm mode” refers to the operating mode of the radiocommunication module wherein only the real time clock is active. To place the radiocommunication module in the alarm mode, the radiocommunication module must be off, i.e. a low logic state must be applied on the “ON/OFF” activation input of the module.
Several techniques for controlling radiocommunication modules are already known. Generally, it is in particular sought to reconcile at least some of the following objectives:                effectiveness of the control, the module having to be deactivated from a hardware as well as a software standpoint, in such a way as to minimize the electric consumption of the module when it is not used;        simplicity of the manipulations for activating and deactivating the module, with the user having to be able to carry out these operations with a reduced number of operations, and each of these operations having to be the easiest possible;        simplicity and low cost for implementing.        
In all of the figures in this document, identical elements or signals are designated by the same alphanumeric reference.
In relation with FIG. 1a, a conventional diagram for activating a radiocommunication module is shown.
Conventionally, the ON/OFF activation input of the radiocommunication module 1000 is directly connected to the VBATT supply of the radiocommunication device. In this conventional connection scheme, the radiocommunication module is never physically off, in that the hardware portion of the module is always supplied. Of course, it is possible to place the radiocommunication module in a low consumption mode by deactivating the software portion of the module by means of AT commands. However, this remains insufficient. Indeed, the radiocommunication devices implementing this first known technique have a low autonomy. In other terms, this first known technique does not favour the use of batteries of small size and of low power. Moreover, with such a technique, it is not possible to program the real time clock, due to the fact that a low logic state is never applied on the “ON/OFF” activation input of the module.
A second known technique is based on the use of a manual command. The FIG. 1b shows a conventional diagram for controlling the operation of a radiocommunication module, by means of a manual command.
Conventionally, the manual command is carried out as desired by a user. For this, the device comprises a switch 2000 whereon the user can act to authorise or not authorise the input of the VBATT supply on the ON/OFF activation input of the module 1000. This second technique thus proposes to place a switch 2000 between the VBATT supply and the ON/OFF activation input of the module.
The inventors have observed that the current aforementioned technique has a certain number of disadvantages in certain situations.
Indeed, the ergonomics of this second known technique is limited by the fact that the user must, at the moment when the module is turned off, be physically within range of the device wherein the module is embedded. This technique therefore does not favour the mobility of the user. Furthermore, and in particular for the reason mentioned hereinabove, this second technique is poorly adapted for the particular case of telemetry using radiocommunication devices placed in the natural environment (ocean, desert, volcanic environment, etc.).
It is well known in prior art that a radiocommunication module has the possibility of being commanded automatically. The FIG. 1c shows a conventional diagram for controlling the operation of a radiocommunication module, by means of an automatic command.
This automatic command can for example be carried out by means of a microprocessor 3000 external to the module. The microprocessor 3000 cooperates with the switch 2000. More precisely, the microprocessor 3000 transmits at predetermined instants activation commands to the switch 2000, via a command signal S1. This command signal S1 thus makes it possible to authorise or not authorise the input of the VBATT supply on the ON/OFF activation input of the module 1000.
Although this method of automatic command represented considerable progress in the mechanism of controlling (activating/deactivating) a radiocommunication module, this method nevertheless has the disadvantage of requiring a microprocessor which takes up space and is expensive in terms of price and electric consumption.